In one of our last posts about ransomware, the name ‘ Jigsaw ’ was listed as ransomware you may have heard of in recent years. This ransomware was unleashed in 2016. It got its name from the puppet in the iconic horror film series, Saw.

How Jigsaw Works

Like most ransomware, Jigsaw encrypts the affected user’s files. The catch with Jigsaw is that it will actually delete your files if you take too long to pay the ransom. With a power like this, some wonder whether it’s about the money or just a sick game to the creators. To gain back access to your files, you’d have to pay $20-$200 USD… or else.

“Or Else” Explained

The puppet appears on your computer screen and deletes files every hour until the ransom is paid. The more time that passes, the puppet increases the the number of files it deletes. Trying to terminate the process by shutting down your computer and rebooting only makes things worse. Each time you log into Windows, the ransomware restarts and each time it starts, Jigsaw would delete one thousand files from your computer. Once the files are deleted, there is no way to recover them. Even if the ransom is paid. Imagine this happening across your network and/or servers. What would loss of data cost you?

As this malware continues to expand and become bigger, scarier, and more damaging, here are some things you can do to keep your files safe: